All is Calm.....well not exactly

My layout states A Calm Winter's Night but our house is anything but calm. With two young kiddos, it stays pretty hopping. However, when I need a moment's peace, I can come and gander at my serene snowy photos from our last big snowstorm. I wasn't sure how the night pictures would turn out but I really like them.

And so the beautiful papers keep on coming and this is not the end...oh no. This again from the January Swirlydoos kit. I think I still have 2-3 more layouts sketched out using this kit. Good thing I have a couple more weeks in January. My next kit will be here before I know it.

I stiched lines down the top and added gems at the bottom to represent icicles. The flourishes and snowflakes were cut from the Home Accents Cricut cartridge. I inked the them both with shades of Faded Jeans, Aged Mahogany and/or Antique Linen.

Quick Tip/Trick:
1. I set up a 6x6" piece of cream paper on my Circut mat and then set all my snowflakes to cut.
2. Before I removed them from the Cricut mat, I sponged on all my inks. This helps with the tiny details not ripping because they're still stuck to the mat.
3. I used the snowflake stamp from Tim Holtz and some little ones from Inkadinkadoo and stamped over top of the cut snowflakes.
4. Then, I lifted all of them off the mat, inked around the edges with Walnut Stain distress ink and assembled.

I also used the trick above to ink my flourishes.

The purple paper is from Creative Imaginations. I tore around the edges and then inked with Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain distress inks. The edges of the photo mats are also inked with Walnut Stain.

At the top I ripped away enough of one corner so I could peep a snowflake through. It's a little hard to tell from the photo but I inked the snowflake with Vintage Photo distress ink and then poured Sterling Silver embossing powder over top. Distress ink picks up embossing powder in some areas but not all so the heated effect is pretty neat looking...kind of sprayed on. I then added Glossy Accents over top, let dry and then put on white marks with my white pen.

For the doily, I cut the middle section out and then set up two Mini Misters:

Mister #1: 2/3 water, 10 drops Caramel and 2 drops Latte Alcohol ink, 1 pea size scoop of White Perfect pearls. Shake well.
Mister #2: 2/3 water, 10 drops Cranberry and 2 drops Egg Plant Alcohol ink, 1 pea size scoop of Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls. Shake well.

On my Craft Sheet, I sprayed randomly on the doily with Mister #1 and then filled in the spots with Mister #2. I dried the entire doily thoroughly with my Heat Tool and then remisted again. The second round enhanced/darkened the colors. After drying again I was satisfied with my colors but additional rounds of misting/drying can be done to darken the colors to desired effect. After the doily was dry, I inked around the outer/inner edges with Vintage Photo distress ink to set it apart from the background paper.

Are you thankful this Monday? Find one thing to be truly grateful for and you'll find your day suddenly is a bit brighter.